WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1901. THE QUEEN'S MEMORIAL

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10257, 6 February 1901, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1901. THE QUEEN'S MEMORIAL

TflEitE.is a feeling in some quarters that Wauganui ought to do something to 'permanently mark its appreciation of Queen Victoria's public and private.sorvices during her long and beneficent roign. We quite agree with this sentiment, and trust that it will bear frail of a suitable character. Some people | favour tho erection of a statue of her | late Majesty; in Wanganui, whilst others deprecate the idea, wisely recognising the fact that such* a' token of th-j residents of this town and districts' loyalty and love for our late revered Queen would cost moro than their roe.ins could afford to procure. A statue worthy of the occasion, wouij cost several thousand pounds to sta:t with, and would have to be. eree'.""l either in tho Moutoa Gardens, or in one of the other public' reserves in ilic Borough, where few peoplo would sco it. We have already had experience of what a cheap statue means, ■ and should not repeat the error, as t!;c effigy of the late John Ballance is an-eye-sore, and no more like the deceased statesman than a badly-execut-ed caricature. If Wanganui wants ttf mark its sense of its "appreciation c," her late llajeßty's long reign and great ssrvices, it can do so without xim'uo strain in quite v as appropriate and fa: more useful a way than by the erection of a 'statue, which, in all likelihood, would, owing to lack of funds, be of tho cheap and nasty order. Her late Majesty was ever anxious to succour the afflicted 'and to relicvf distress. It would, therefore, be an appropriate recognition of that phaM? of hor character were the people of Wanganui and the surrounding districts to contribute a sufficient sum .for the erection and furnishing of a- women's ward afc the present Hospital, whoso accommodation 'is greatly di 1 - 1 ficient aud at present much overtaxed. A 'VICTORIA WARD" to accommodate, say, twelve women patients would bo a valuable addition to the Wangauui JloapitaJ, to which patients arc art-r-iittod fro;a a large district which ought to ha.ye no difficulty in finding the required funds for so beneficent an object. The present Hospital is all ton doficipnt in roum for patients, notwithstanding its grenfc cost, and quite latr--j v ..^i3 had 1 to decline to admit sevcrsi siif/:'ret» I'afluiring medical Bare ami r* tfnfon. whilst, editors hayo had to Icav? its Bheltev while si^H »n.. tho eailirr stages of convalescence, oO as , w watr room for others more urgeiltjj' nn p eU ing attention. By -the 'erection, of B<> greatly needed an addition to 'the pr^ sent Hospital buildings a very larpv number of"'people would, sooner q~ later, derive a direct benefit, and t'"_ knowledge alono should greatly fac'Htato tho raising o,f tho requisite fuiulc as a means of perpetuating the meir.cvv of "Victoria the Good" in Wanganui whero widespread regret and sorro 1i hava been occasioned by- her death.